Regulations for Taught Masters Degrees for students entering in or after the 2009/10 academic year

These regulations are approved by the Academic Board/the Graduate School Board of Examiners Last updated: July 2013

General

1.

These Regulations apply to all persons who have registered for a programme of study leading to a degree of Master of Arts, Master of Laws, Master of Public Administration, Master of Research or Master of Science at the School and to those who have registered for any part of such a programme. These regulations are subject to the General Academic Regulations.

Entrance Qualifications

2.

The normal minimum entrance qualification for registration for a Masters degree is

2.1

a Second Class Honours degree of a UK university or of the CNAA, or a qualification of an equivalent standard obtained after a programme of study extending over not less than three years in a university (or an educational institution of university rank), in a subject appropriate to that of the programme to be followed, or a qualification of an equivalent standard appropriate to the programme to be followed; or

2.2

a professional or other qualification obtained by written examination and approved by the School.

3.

An applicant for admission possessing a professional or other qualification obtained by written examination may be required by the School to pursue the programme for the period of at least one year longer than the minimum period prescribed in the individual programme regulations and/or the School may prescribe a qualifying examination for such a candidate.

4.

An applicant for admission will also be required to meet any additional entrance requirements specified in the relevant programme regulations.

5.

The School may prescribe English language and/or other tests as conditions of admission.

6.

Application for admission to a programme and registration for that programme shall be undertaken in accordance with procedures specified by the School.

7.

The School may exceptionally exempt a student from part of a programme on the basis of previous study at another institution and may exempt such a student additionally from part of the examinations prescribed for the degree.

8.

When considering an application under Regulation 7 the School shall consider, among other things,

8.1

the standard and content of courses and examinations taken elsewhere, certified by the appropriate officer or officers of the relevant institution, and their relevance to the intended programme at the School;

8.2

the compatibility of the study previously undertaken with the proposed programme, to allow a smooth transition into the latter.

Programmes of Study

9.

Programmes and the examinations associated with them shall be so organised as to fall into one or both of the following categories:

9.1

a period of full-time study, the length of which shall be prescribed in the individual programme regulations but which shall normally be not less than one calendar year. Students will sit examinations at the end of that period;

9.2

a period of part-time study of between two and four years, during which candidates will be examined in accordance with the individual programme regulations.

10.

The minimum length of the period of study is set out in the individual programme regulations. The normal maximum period of registration will be as follows: two years for 9-, 10- and 12-month programmes; three years for 21-month programmes; and four years for part-time study of any programme. The normal maximum period of registration for the following Executive MSc programmes will be six years; MSc Diplomacy and International Strategy, MSc Finance (Part-time), MSc Global Management or "Global MiM", MSc Health Economics, Policy and Management, TRIUM Global Executive MBA, Executive MPA programme and Executive LLM. The School shall determine, subject to the provisions of the individual programme regulations, the method by which the student is examined.

11.

If a student is taking a full-time programme of 12-months' duration or longer, he/she may be allowed to spend a maximum period of six months on project work under appropriate supervision at an organisation or institution approved by the School. The criterion for approval shall be that the external organisation or institution shall have a function relevant and suitable to the field of study. Such external project work will be at the discretion of the School, provided that it is allowed under the individual programme regulations. Part-time students may be allowed to undertake such external project work for an equivalent period. If a student is taking a full-time programme of less than 12-months' duration, s/he will not be allowed to undertake project work outside the School unless permitted by the individual programme regulations.

12.

A full-time student will normally register for courses up to the value of four full units in each year. A part-time student will normally register for courses to a value of three full units or fewer. Courses must be chosen to comply with the programme regulations concerned.

13.

The School may allow a student to transfer from one programme to another within the School. Such permission will be given only on the recommendation of the directors for the student's current degree programme and for the programme into which he/she wishes to transfer.

14.

In exceptional circumstances, the School may allow a student to vary his/ her programme by substituting up to the value of one full unit graduate courses of equivalent value from another programme. Such permission will be given only on the recommendation of the programme director.

Entry to Examinations

15.

A candidate for the degree will be entered in the examinations for the courses for which he/she is registered.

16.

In spite of Regulation 15, no candidate shall be eligible to sit an examination unless he/she has satisfactorily attended the course concerned in the year of study concerned and has completed the work required.

17.

A candidate wishing to defer sitting one or more examinations must obtain permission from the Chair of the Sub-Board of Examiners for his/her programme. If he/she also wishes to defer those examinations again the following year, he/she will require the permission of both the Chair of the Sub-Board of Examiners for his/her programme and the Chair of the Graduate Studies Sub-Committee. Any further requests to defer will also require this dual authorisation. Students who have deferred their examinations once may only be given permission to defer for a second (or additional) time all originally deferred examinations - they will not be allowed to split their examination load across different years. Permission for deferral must be sought by no later than Friday of the first week of the Summer term except in the case of unforeseen and exceptional circumstances.

18.

Candidates who are absent without formal permission from an examination will have that examination counted as the first attempt.

19.

Candidates are bound by the regulations in force at the time of their entry to the examination, including the individual programme regulations.

20.

A candidate will be examined in each course, unless he/she has deferred or withdrawn under these Regulations. A candidate will not be re-examined in any course which he or she has already passed. A candidate will not normally be re-examined in any course he/she has failed if an award has been made.

21.

No fee is payable for the first attempt at an examination.

Examinations and Assessment

22.

The School shall set up a Sub-Board of Examiners for each programme. Each Sub-Board shall include examiners who are not members of the staff of the School. These external examiners shall have regard to the totality of each degree programme and shall be involved and particularly influential in the decisions relating to the award of every degree. They shall report to the Director each year, and shall comment specifically on the validity and integrity of the assessment process and the standard of student attainment.

23.

Examination procedures shall ensure that assessment is and can be shown to be fair and impartial.

24.

Each Sub-Board of Examiners shall ensure, among other things, that the application of the 'Scheme for the Award of a Taught Masters Degree' (see Regulation 51), including local rules where allowed, has regard to the totality of the programme and to the requirements for progression within it, and to the requirement for each student to achieve a satisfactory overall standard.

25.

Unless indicated otherwise in the individual programme regulations, each programme shall include submission of a significant piece of individual work in the form of an essay, report or dissertation (to all of which the word 'dissertation' applies in these Regulations) which may be based on a project or fieldwork.

26.

The examination for each written paper shall take place on one occasion only each year, except as provided in Regulation 29.

27.

A dissertation, where indicated in the scheme of examination, will be examined on one occasion only in each year. The date for submission will be set out in the programme regulations. The only exception will be where a student fails his/her programme because of a failed dissertation and has failed no other courses. In such cases, the student may re-submit the dissertation early (subject to Regulation 39). The early re-submission date for such students will be set by the relevant Department.

28.

Where the regulations allow a candidate to offer work written outside the examination room, the work submitted must be certified to be his or her own. Any quotation from the published or unpublished works of other persons must be acknowledged.

29.

Students who miss their examinations for very exceptional circumstances may apply to sit special examinations outside the normal examination period. The Graduate School Board of Examiners will be the sole authority in determining whether individual students be granted special examinations.

30.

The School may in exceptional circumstances allow variation of the method(s) of assessment for a course, in respect of some or all candidates.

Late Submission of Coursework

32.

All students must be given clear written instructions on what is required for assessed coursework and dissertations, and the deadline for their submission.

33.

If a student believes that he/she has good cause not to meet the deadline (e.g. illness/injury, bereavement or other serious personal circumstances), he/she should first discuss the matter with the course teacher and seek a formal extension, to be ratified by the Chair of the appropriate Sub-Board of Examiners.

34.

If a student misses the deadline for submission he/she should first discuss the matter with the course teacher. If the student feels he/she had good cause for missing the submission deadline (e.g. illness/injury, bereavement or other serious personal circumstances), he/she may seek a formal extension, to be ratified by the Chair of the appropriate Sub-Board of Examiners.

35.

Extensions will be granted only where there is good cause backed by official supporting evidence (e.g. medical certificate), and where the circumstances are unforeseen and out of the student's control. All evidence must be in English. Any extension granted must be confirmed in writing to the student.

36.

Some Departments operate a special local process for considering requests for extensions to submission deadlines; or for considering whether to apply a penalty for work submitted late in light of good cause. Where these processes are in place, they will be set out in the relevant Departmental student handbook. Where Departments do not operate a special local process, requests for formal extensions will be decided by the Chair of the appropriate Sub-Board of Examiners. For the avoidance of doubt, it is only the process for considering whether to grant an extension or to waive a penalty that may vary; the standard penalty for late submission of coursework set out at regulation 37 will apply uniformly across all programmes.

37.

If a student fails to submit by the set deadline (or extended deadline as appropriate), the following penalty will apply:

Five marks out of 100 will be deducted for coursework submitted within 24 hours of the deadline and a further five marks will be deducted for each subsequent 24-hour period (working days only) until the coursework is submitted. After five working days, coursework will only be accepted with the permission of the Chair of the Sub-Board of Examiners.

Re-examination

38.

If a candidate who has been examined in all elements of an examination or of part of an examination for which he/she has entered fails to satisfy the examiners, they may decide that he/she be exempted from re-examination in one or more of the following:

(i)

one or more of the written papers;

(ii)

dissertation;

(iii)

assessed coursework;

(iv)

practical examinations.

39.

A candidate who does not at his/her first attempt successfully pass the examination or part of the examination for which he/she has entered and who has not been given an overall pass in his or her degree may re-sit that examination on one occasion only. The right to re-sit will be subject to the agreement of the School if it requires repeat tuition. Re-sits will take place during the next examination period except where the candidate has been granted permission to defer the examination(s) to a later year and except as provided in Regulation 27. The deferral rule at Regulation 17, including the ban on splitting examination loads, shall apply to candidates required to re-sit more than one examination.

40.

A candidate proposing to re-sit an examination when not registered for the course concerned shall enter for that examination by the means set from time to time by the Academic Registrar or his/her designated deputy.

41.

A candidate proposing to re-sit an examination shall be bound by all the regulations which were in force at the time of the first sitting of the examination.

42.

Candidates being re-examined have to sit examinations for the same courses as they sat previously, unless they obtain their supervisor's permission and satisfactorily complete courses for different examinations.

43.

A candidate who re-sits an examination when not registered at the School will be required to pay a fee set by the School from time to time.

Illness and Other Exceptional Circumstances

44.

Where a candidate is absent from an examination because of illness/injury, bereavement or other serious personal circumstances, he/she may submit an exceptional circumstances form to the Student Services Centre within seven days after the date of the missed examination.

45.

Where a candidate feels that his/her performance in an examination or dissertation has been significantly and negatively affected by illness/injury, bereavement or other personal circumstances, he/she may submit an exceptional circumstances form to the Student Services Centre within seven days after his/her last written examination or within seven days after the submission deadline of the dissertation, as the case may be.

46.

The information in the exceptional circumstances form will be considered by the Sub-Board of Examiners for the candidate's programme only if corroborated by official evidence. All evidence must be in English.

47.

In only the most exceptional cases where the exceptional circumstances are unforeseen and out of the candidate's own control Sub-Boards may recommend to the Graduate School Board of Examiners that:

(i)

the candidate's result(s) in the affected examination(s) be discounted, and that he/she be allowed to re-sit it (them);

(ii)

the candidate's result(s) in the affected examination(s) not be discounted, but that he/she be allowed an exceptional additional attempt at it (them)1;

(iii)

the candidate be awarded a degree, or higher class of degree. Sub-Boards may not make this recommendation for a candidate who was absent from an examination.

48.

The Graduate School Board of Examiners shall be the sole authority in deciding whether to uphold such recommendations.

Footnote 1 Sub-Boards of Examiners may also recommend under Regulation 47 (i) and (ii) that the candidate may, where relevant and appropriate, progress into the next year of study.

The Award of a Degree

49.

The examiners shall have the discretion to award a mark as set out in the 'Scheme for the Award of a Taught Masters Degree' (version in force at the time the candidate started the programme).

50.

To be eligible for the award of a degree a candidate must have satisfied the examiners in the examinations prescribed for the programme on completion of each course.

51.

Degrees are awarded by the School in accordance with relevant regulations.

Notification of Results

52.

After the examiners have reached a decision, every candidate will be notified by the School of the result of his/her examination.

53.

A degree certificate will be sent to each candidate who is awarded the degree. The certificate will state the title of the degree awarded.

54.

A list of candidates who have completed their degree successfully will be published by the School.

Appeals Against Decisions of Sub-Boards and Boards of Examiners

55.

Appeals against decisions of Sub-Boards and Boards of Examiners must be made in the format and within the timeframe prescribed in the Appeals Regulations.